Auguste Lechner (2 January 1905,

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

, Austria - 25 February 2000, Innsbruck, Austria) was an Austrian writer. Many of her works were aimed at an adolescent audience.

Life

Born Auguste Neuner, Lechner studied languages at the

University of Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (; ) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. It is the largest education facility in the Austrian States of Austria, ...

. In 1927, she married the managing director of the Tyrolia publishing company, Hermann Lechner. Their son Hansjörg was born in 1930. During the 1930s, she published folk stories in various magazines, and after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

she began to write books for teenage readers, concentrating predominantly on retelling classical and medieval legends and myths. Her extremely wide range of adaptations drew from Ancient

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

and Roman myths (

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

, the

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...

, the

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

, the Golden Fleece and the

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

) as well as (

King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...

, The Song of the Nibelungs,

Roland Roland (; ; or ''Rotholandus''; or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the Matter of France. The historical Roland was mil ...

and

Parzival ''Parzival'' () is a medieval chivalric romance by the poet and knight Wolfram von Eschenbach in Middle High German. The poem, commonly dated to the first quarter of the 13th century, centers on the Arthurian hero Parzival (Percival in English) ...

). With estimated total sales of over a million, she was one of the most successful authors writing in German, and her books have been translated into Dutch, Bulgarian and Korean. Among the well-known artists who provided illustrations for her works were Hans Vonmetz, Maria Rehm, Josef Widmoser and Alfred Kunzenmann.

Critical reception

At the time Lechner was writing, she won considerable praise for her blend of entertainment and education, her mastery of language, her sensitivity to the historical material and the suspense which characterized her works.Johann Holzner,
Auguste Lechner (1905–2000). Zum 100. Geburtstag
. In: Lexikon der Literatur in Tirol und Südtirol, Forschungsinstitut Brenner-Archiv. There was admiration for her ability to make the myths and legends which form an important part of

Western civilization Western culture, also known as Western civilization, European civilization, Occidental culture, Western society, or simply the West, refers to the internally diverse culture of the Western world. The term "Western" encompasses the social no ...

accessible to young readers. Some of the more recent criticism has claimed that she does not explore in sufficient depth the values, customs and perspectives of the period she describes, and that her main characters are stylized and simplified.Auguste Lechner. In: Lexikon Literatur in Tirol. Maria Elisabeth Dorninger: Iwein. Der Ritter mit dem Löwen. Auguste Lechner versus Hartmann von Aue. In: Informationen zur Deutschdidaktik 24 (2000), S. 108–118
/ref> Defenders of her work have pointed out that such criticism is unfair in that the

myths Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

and

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the ...

s that she draws upon could also be criticised in this way.

Awards

* 1956 Austrian State Prize for Young Literature * 1978 Listed in the VII Premio Europeo di Letteratura Giovanile, Provincia di Trento * 1983 Order of Merit of the

State of Tyrol Tyrol ( ; ; ) is an Austrian federal state. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical Princely County of Tyrol. It is a constituent part of the present-day Euroregion Tyrol–South Tyrol–Trentino (together with South Tyrol and Tre ...

* 1985 Honorary professorship * 2005 The Song of the Nibelungs named as one of the Top Ten Books for Young People on International Children’s Book Day

Works (selected)

* The Song of the Nibelungs, Told for Our Times, 1951 * The Adventures of

Dietrich von Bern Dietrich von Bern is the name of a character in Germanic heroic legend who originated as a legendary version of the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great. The name "Dietrich", meaning "Ruler of the People", is a form of the Germanic name "Theodor ...

, 1953 * The Dolomite Sagas, 1955 * The Adventure of Parzifal, 1956 * The Brothers from the Cave – A Prehistoric Adventure, 1959 * The Tales of Odysseus, 1961 * The Story of Wild Hagen, Beautiful Hilde and Gudrun, 1963 * Aeneas, Son of the Goddess, 1967 * The Adventures of Don_Quixote, 1970 * The Saga of Roland, 1972 * The Iliad: The Downfall of Troy, 1973 * The Finest Fables of La Fontaine, 1976 * Hercules: his Adventures for Young People, 1977 * The Saga of the Golden_Fleece, 1980 * The History of King Arthur, 1985 * Alexander the Great, 1995

References

External links

Biography Auguste Lechner

* ttp://orawww.uibk.ac.at/apex/uprod/f?p=TLL:2:0::::P2_ID:410 Work and life of August Lechner, University of Innsbruck {{DEFAULTSORT:Lechner, Auguste 1905 births 2000 deaths Austrian women writers Writers from Innsbruck University of Innsbruck alumni Folklore writers 20th-century Austrian writers 20th-century Austrian women writers